


Moving Beyond

by Guggi



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Booker Whump, Caning, Gen, Implied D/s, Joe and Nicky are soulmates and can communicate with each other using only glances, M/M, Sort of happy ending, Trying to redeem Booker, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:34:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26345692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guggi/pseuds/Guggi
Summary: Please read the tags. This is not for everyone.Feeling Nile's words in her mind, Andy decides against exiling Booker. Instead she takes a more hands on approach.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Booker | Sebastien le Livre, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 7
Kudos: 40





	Moving Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing for this fandom.   
> I want a happy and redeemed Booker, but first I need to get this out.

_ He needs help _ . 

Nile’s words echoed in her ears.  _ More help than we can give him _ .  _ Can we really afford to let one of our own go? _

Andy had argued back that Booker’s betrayal of them - of their trust in each other - far outweighed his punishment. A mere hundred years. He would go on a couple of benders and before he even knew it, the exile would be ending. 

_ Andy, he’s not going to make it alone. _ Nile had begged, nearly pleaded. 

She walked quickly to their London base. Booker had headed that way, most likely to pack his things. And rightly so. 

But why was she following him back there then? 

Booker placed his bag on the chair in his room. He didn’t know what to feel. Truth be told, he didn’t feel anything at all. Only decision he had to make was which park bench would he be sleeping on tonight? 

He couldn’t fit all his stuff in his bag. He took a plastic bag from the kitchen for the remainder of his clothes. Joe could have some of the soccer memorabilia. He heard the front door being slammed. Tensing up, he decided against running for the gun cabinet. And luckily so. Because Andy was standing in his doorway. 

“Come to see me off?”

Andy glared at him but remained silent. It wasn’t until a few moments later that Booker noticed the cane in her hand. He took a step back instinctively. 

Andy strode over and placed herself right in front of him less than a foot between them. “Kneel down.” Booker hesitated. 

She waited but soon mistook it for defiance when he still hadn’t moved a muscle and grabbed his shoulder hard, making him wince and pushed him downwards until his knees buckled under him and he was kneeling before her. 

Andy took three deep, calming breaths. She was close to being blinded by rage but didn’t want to seriously harm Booker in pure anger. 

He looked up at her but quickly cast his glance back down when he noticed her furious glare. What scared him most at this moment, he didn’t know. Andy’s wrath, that cane or the prospect of never seeing Andy again after … this. 

“Please, Andy … Please, I’ll just leave. Just let me leave and I’ll be out of your hair. Forever.” He moved to grab his half finished packed bag, but she placed herself in between him and his bag. 

Again Nile’s words found their way to the back of her mind.  _ A hundred years is no blink of an eye, Andy. Not for him.  _

No. 

No, Booker won’t be going anywhere. She had come this far, and she was going to finish what had been started. “Remove your shirt.” 

“Please, Andy.” 

“Remove your shirt”, she repeated, no less firm. Again he failed to obey right away, but her patience was wearing thinner for every second and she bent down to take hold of the hem of his shirt and wrestled it off him. He wasn’t putting up much resistance but didn’t help either. 

Andy threw the shirt on the floor next to the still kneeling Booker. She felt something run down the back of her right hand. She wiped it off with her left hand. It was wet. A tear. Booker’s tear.

Booker was silently crying until a faint sob escaped him. It wasn’t that this was a new situation for him. More times than he could count had his back tasted the stings of the Guards’ cane during the last two centuries, but never like this. 

Not during his last meeting ever with Andy. 

Andy tightened her hold of the cane.  _ If he thought his pitiful tears would save him this time, he had another thing coming _ . 

“You know what to do.” She nodded towards the bed. 

Booker looked up to meet her eyes. He knew she disliked that in these circumstances but he persisted. Before he could react, the cane flew through the air striking his shoulder. He grimaced and rubbed the slowly forming welt and blinking the tears from his eyes he looked up at Andy again. She was standing with her feet widespread and breathing heavily. Still, he didn’t move. 

Feeling provoked by his apparent continued acts of disobedience, she cast away all thoughts and exercises of calm and deep breathing, grabbed his arm and half dragged and half threw his naked upper body on the bed. 

Booker closed his eyes shut and tightened his jaw. Andy threw the cane on the ground and undid her belt and wrapped one end around her hand. 

“Andy?” 

Booker had expected to hear the cane whiz through the air, but before he could look over his shoulder three lashes from a belt landed on his back between his shoulders. He groaned in newfound pain and shifted on the bed. 

“This is your only warning. Don’t move.” Another  _ smack _ could be heard from the belt landing lower down this time. Booker gripped the sheets in his fists. He had no time to think about what had gotten into her before a new blow made contact with his skin. 

Pausing for a few seconds, Andy could see the familiar sight of Booker’s back turning pink after the lashes. 

She felt the anger rise inside her. Rage. Wrath. Pure and blinding. All she wanted to do was make him pay for his deeds. Take all her frustrations out on the naked back in front of her. 

There was little holding her back when she lifted her arm again and made Booker a sorry mess. She laid all her strength into her hits and heard whimpers after a few hard blows. That didn’t make her feel sorry for him. On the contrary. 

No way in Hell would he just walk out of their lives. Without knowing how much his betrayal had hurt her. Had hurt them. She grit her teeth and let her frustration out on him, blow after blow. 

Booker whimpered after every thrash of the belt. His grip on the sheets tightened. Tears flowed freely from his eyes now. He still felt every individual stroke and reacted accordingly after. Every lash drove him a little further into the bed. 

His knees were getting sore from the position on the hardwood floor but he stayed still. 

_ Smack! Smack! _

The new lashes were covering the previous ones now. 

_ Smack! _ Booker cried out at a particularly hard blow and took hold of a pillow in front of him. He hid his face in the comfort of the soft pillow. Andy groaned with effort but made no signs of stopping his punishment. 

* * *

Nile opened the front door just to hear a  _ smack _ and a muffled wail somewhere. She acted quickly and ran towards her gun. But before she reached it, Joe placed his hands in a gentle hold of her shoulders, keeping her back. 

“What are you doing? Someone’s in trouble!” She hissed quietly. Joe and Nicky shared a quick knowing glance before Joe shook his head. 

“It’s all right.” He whispered. 

Nile cocked her gun and tried to move past them towards the sounds she heard before. Nicky placed his hands around hers that were holding her gun tightly in an attempt to disarm her. “Nile, trust us. It’s fine.” 

She lifted her brows, waiting for them to either get out of the way or explain things to her. Quickly. She reluctantly let Nicky take away her gun and place it back in the cabinet with the safety lock on. 

“It’s Booker”, Joe explained. “Booker. And Andy.” 

Nicky sat down at the table and looked up at Nile, with an expression she couldn’t quite decipher. 

Nicky always hated hearing Booker being beat and he would usually go outside or wear headphones in more recent times. Another  _ smack _ followed by a whimper was heard. Nile saw Nicky wince. It was barely noticeable, but she was sure it was a wince. 

Confused, but reality slowly dawning on her, she looked at Joe. “Is she … to him …?” She made a vague gesture with her hands. Joe placed a comforting hand on her shoulder again and nodded slightly. They both sat down next to Nicky. 

Nicky felt bad about her finding out the hard way and not telling her sooner, but it’s not the sort of thing that easily comes up in a conversation. 

Two  _ smacks _ in rapid succession and a whimper turned into a wail this time. Nicky closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. 

Joe let his hand run down Nicky’s arm. He opened his eyes to look up and meet Joe’s. He understood the gesture. He could leave. Go outside if he wished. But he stayed next to Nile and Joe. All of them were now looking down at the table in front of them.

* * *

Booker’s whimpers had turned into wails now. Somewhere far away he heard muffled voices and chairs being dragged across the floor. But the majority of his world right now was centered around his burning and welted back so he ignored the intruders. 

_ Smack! Smack! _ Andy noticed he didn’t cry out after every thrash anymore but had progressed to a continued soft wail. 

_ Smack! Smack! Smack! _ Three rapid fire lashes hit him. His wail increased in volume for a short while. 

Andy threw the belt on the bed next to Booker. He hardly noticed, sniffing and sobbing into the pillow. 

She wiped sweat from her forehead and listened to the sobbing.  _ Was he done? Had he had enough? _

Angry, red welts had formed on his back. She could make them out in the dimness of the room. 

Booker felt the pillow become more and more wet with his tears. His muscles ached all over after tensing up for so long. He forced his body to ease up somewhat. His legs were shaky beneath him, but he remained in position still. 

He felt a drop of sweat on his forehead, running down to his cheek and mixing with the tears. 

“Booker?” It took him a couple of seconds to register his name had been spoken and a couple extra to respond. He slowly looked over his shoulder. 

Andy suddenly kneeled beside him. She caressed his back, but that only made him wince. 

“I don’t want to do this.” For a second she looked hesitant. She stroked his back softly again and laid her head against his shoulder. Then she took hold of the cane and stood up again, placing herself behind him. 

“Fifteen strokes. And you will count them out loud.” 

She felt the cane in her hands. Thick yet flexible. She tapped her own hand a few times. 

“Andy?” The sound of a cane whizzing through the air and landing in the middle of his back was the only answer he got. He gasped. He didn’t think anything could be more painful than a caning, but a caning after being whipped with a belt was so much worse. 

“Well?” Andy asked. 

Booker was confused for a moment before remembering. “One”, he said out loud. 

Fourteen to go seemed like an eternity. Fresh tears were already running down his cheeks. He didn’t know how he would be able to take the pain. It felt like the punishment was just getting started. 

Another  _ swish! _ and  _ thwack! _ “Two”, he remembered this time. The third crack crossed both the first and the second. He gasped in air after his breath felt ragged. “Three.” 

Andy let him have a break for a moment before cracking the cane through the air again and landing two lashes in quick succession. Booker barely had time to call out number four before he felt number five. 

Booker felt his body compulse. In a haze he realised there were still ten left.  _ Thwack! _ The sixth landing low, almost hitting his behind. “Six”, a barely audible count was heard. 

_ Crack! Crack! _ Again he had no time in between the seventh and eighth to count properly. He said nothing only made a noise like he was dry heaving. 

Andy tapped his shoulder with the cane. “Book?” 

“E-eight. Ni-nine”, he whispered. She let him regain his senses for a minute. 

Booker felt his legs cramp. His fists tightened and untightened around the pillow. He was shaking, sobbing and sniffling. 

Andy saw that the last two thrashes had broken skin and a drop of blood appeared. He healed quickly again, the skin now whole and unbroken but still red and welted. That would last days. 

She placed the cane on his back to give a warning of the next lashing. He didn’t seem to notice, only shaking and sobbing beneath her glance. She raised her arm and let the cane land high up between his shoulder blades. “Ten.” At least that’s what she thought she heard. 

Andy was no longer furious or angry or hateful. She was nothing really. The eleventh stroke fell hard. Booker mouthed ‘eleven’ but no sound came out. 

* * *

Nile almost had tears in her eyes. She was angry and confused. This is not what she meant when she told Andy that Booker needed help. 

She was angry at Joe and Nicky for just sitting there while they had all heard Booker’s screams from right next door. She shifted in her seat. Joe stood up before she could go any further and went to Booker’s door. He heard another  _ swish!  _ and  _ thwack! _ but no audible counting. He knocked on the door, firmly. 

“Andy?”, Joe said while opening the door a crack. “I think that’s enough now.”

Whether Andy heard him or not was unclear. The thirteenth lash was much lighter than the previous ones. Fourteen was barely a tap. She let go of the cane, letting it dump on the floor. 

Looking down at Booker she said “All over, you can stay”, and headed towards Joe and the brightness of the kitchen. She sat down heavily at the table, her hair tousled and sweaty. Nile didn’t know whether to look at her or not. 

Booker vaguely noticed the thrashes had stopped and shifted from side to side. His back still felt like fire had erupted all over it. It throbbed and pained him when he moved even just a little.

Nicky tried to leave them unnoticed and went to Booker’s room. Nile heard a soft voice and after a minute Nicky exited the room and went to the bathroom for some cooling lotion before going back in to Booker’s. 

Nile, Andy and Joe sat around the table that evening. Nicky cut some slices of bread for them and put out some toppings before going to Booker’s room again. 

Nile had heard the sobbing had stopped and he just sniffed a few times when the door opened and Nicky sat down on the bed next to him. 

She wasn’t hungry. None of them were. Joe nibbled a little out of courtesy but placed his piece on his plate again. 

Nile still didn’t agree with her boss’ methods, but Andy didn’t look in the mood to discuss it at the moment. 

She looked at Andy. “So, he stays?”

Andy nodded. “He stays.” 


End file.
